Tom Holland and Zendaya React to People Commenting on Their Height Difference

Tom Holland and Zendaya are setting the record straight about their height difference, which they say was a non-issue when it came to filming Spider-Man: No Way Home and the rest of the Marvel trilogy. 

In a new interview with SiriusXM, the Spidey duo and co-star Jacob Batalon caught up with host Jessica Shaw about an onscreen kiss in 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, which Shaw said led to people pointing out that Zendaya was taller than Holland. 

“Not that much taller,” Holland said. “Let’s put this out there. Maybe like an inch or two at best. It’s not like, people say like, ‘How did you guys kiss? It must have been so difficult.’”

Shaw then added that it’s “such a misogynistic thing” to find a problem with a woman being taller in a film, to which Holland added “it’s a stupid assumption” to think the duo’s height difference would be a problem at all, calling stereotypes “ridiculous.” Holland and Zendaya recently joked on the Graham Norton Show about their heights, and how the difference played a part in making one stunt in particular just a little difficult, but it was all in good fun. In the SiriusXM chat, however, the pair were serious, and Zendaya mentioned that her mother is taller than her father. 

“I remember when we were doing the Spider-Man screen tests,” Holland said. “You’d have to ask [director] Jon Watts this question, but every girl that we tested for both roles was taller than me. I wonder whether that was a decision Jon had made. There was no one that tested that was shorter than I was. To be fair, I am quite short. So maybe that was a decision [Watts] made and something he was aware of and wanted to break the stereotype. I think it’s great.”

Just last week, during a chat for Interview’s new cover story, Zendaya spoke about her plans outside of the MJ character, including her hopes to someday direct a film that she described as a “simple love story about two Black girls.”

“I’ve never really thought, ‘I have to do this by this time and I want to do this by that time,’” Zendaya said. “I just want to do the things that make me happy and bring me joy and fulfill me as an artist, as a person. So, I keep that loose, because if one day it turns into a completely different career path, then I would allow myself to do that. The idea of trying to direct in the future excites me.”

Holland has also recently done a few solo interviews, including a web-slinging stint on Hot Ones, which you can check out below. 

No Way Home hits theaters on Friday, and while it potentially isn’t the last time we’ll see Holland star as Peter Parker, fans are eagerly awaiting to see if other Peters make the cut. 

In the meantime, check out Tom Holland on Hot Ones: